128 GROUND MACKEREL-FISHING. 



with success, but it is not nearly as snug a method of fitting it. 

 The hook must be whipped on with fine silk, and the edge 01 

 the pipe-hole be scraped with a pointed pair of scissors, that 

 it may not chafe off the snooding, which should also be lapped 

 round with silk \ an inch above the top of the pipe. 



By rowing to windward of the shoal of the fish and casting 

 the flies with a rod, as for Trout, Mackerel are also caught. Not 

 unfrequently using two flies, you will take a Pollack on one and 

 a Mackerel on the other. 



GROUND MACKEREL-FISHING. 



It is the habit of Mackerel, in the latter part of the summer 

 and through the autumn, to feed much at the bottom, or, as 

 fishermen term it, ' to strike the ground.' 



Ground-fishing for Mackerel is quite an institution in Ply- 

 mouth Sound, and two men usually fish sitting down in each 

 boat, one at the stern, the other at the bow, a line in each hand. 

 It is followed from the middle of July until October. Fifty 

 to eighty boats may be seen thus occupied, and many hundred 

 dozens of Mackerel are thus caught in a day. 



The ordinary tackle and bait, as described for whirring, is 

 not fitted for their capture under these circumstances, and a 

 special arrangement is necessary. This ground-fishing for 

 Mackerel is chiefly followed where there is very little or no 

 tide, 'and leads of either the pipe or boat-shape may be used, 

 the latter having a horse-hair loop or stiffener projecting from 

 each end, not less than half the length of the lead itself. To 

 this add a trace of four feet of gimp or triple-twisted gut, with 

 two lengths of selected single gut for the hook link, and a hook 

 size No. 10 (fig. 63, p. 211). The bait in general use for this 

 ground-fishing is a piece of Pilchard, Pilchard gut, or Squid. 

 To prepare a Pilchard for bait, remove the scales without 

 damage to the skin, which requires some care, score it across 

 diagonally with a very sharp knife or an old razor, at not quite 

 ^-inch intervals, pass the knife underneath, and remove the 

 pieces, which should be cut as thin as possible. Squid is often 

 used together with Pilchard, and should be cut of a dagger 



